KBS 2TV ‘Docu 3 Days’ broadcast screen.

On the KBS 2TV program ‘Documentary 3 Days (Docu 3 Days)’, the ‘bright expressions’ of SK hynix employees are drawing attention online.

On the 11th, KBS 2TV ‘Documentary 3 Days’ aired the episode ‘A World First Encounter - Icheon SK hynix 72 Hours’. The broadcast captured the daily lives of employees working at the Icheon campus in Gyeonggi and at HBM development and production sites. The Icheon campus, which about 30,000 people pass through each day, was presented as a vast industrial site where research and development, production, logistics, and quality verification personnel move organically.

KBS 2TV ‘Docu 3 Days’ broadcast screen.

Cleanroom management staff spent the day moving through process areas, checking around equipment and along work routes, and improvement meetings to raise productivity even a little continued frequently. Field employees likened the work of lifting small bits of efficiency one by one to ‘gleaning’.

In the back-end process, the testing that confirms whether finished semiconductor products operate stably even in extreme environments was also introduced. By repeatedly applying high heat and electricity to identify potential defects, one engineer described the job as “a role like a semiconductor doctor,” expressing a sense of responsibility.

The broadcast also included stories of long-tenured employees who endured difficult periods for the company. Accounts of employees who got through times of unpaid leave and power saving, and of senior engineers who have started their days at the company cafeteria before dawn, drew viewers’ interest.

KBS 2TV ‘Docu 3 Days’ broadcast screen.

What especially stood out to viewers was the employees and their expressions. As most of the members who appeared on the program showed a bright and relaxed vibe even while working, related scenes spread quickly across online communities and social media.

Online users reacted with comments such as “Was it actually possible to smile like that at work”, “the power of financial therapy”, “it is striking that everyone looks so happy”, “they look like characters in a drama, not people at work”, and “all I can say is I am jealous”.

Meanwhile, buoyed by the semiconductor boom, the operating profit outlook for SK hynix this year is soaring. If the standard of ‘10% of operating profit’, the performance bonus calculation method agreed by labor and management last year, is applied, some predict that an average per-employee bonus in the 100 million won range could be possible early next year, making the company an object of envy among office workers.